Avo is the New Mayo

With the current Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent quarantine, folks are staying in and cooking at home.

Everybody's cooking these days, and that's how it should be. With the current Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent quarantine, folks are staying in and cooking at home. How many of you have started baking bread? Now it's not just tough to find toilet paper, but flour is being rationed at stores too, as well as many other ingredients. Because of the quarantine, there is a general fear that certain foods "may never be available again", so some folks went ape and bought everything asap, while others dawdled and were left out.

I say there is no need to worry about missing ingredients when you cook. Half the fun is finding substitutions that will complete your meal, and in many cases, can make it even better than the original. You just have to ask the right questions to find a good sub... what is the flavor of the ingredient you are missing? Is it salty? Sweet? Earthy (umami)? What is the texture of what you are missing? Is it crunchy? Soft? Slick or oily? What role does it play in your dish? Is it up front or a subtle background note?

Need some hard cider but you're out? Try a pale ale beer with cider vinegar and a touch of honey. Need adobo chili sauce? How 'bout a bunch of ancho chili powder mixed with olive oil. Need some mayonnaise? Try mushing an avocado and blending it with Dijon & olive oil.

"Cooking substitution is a perfect metaphor for life after this pandemic. Our 'old normal' way of living (original ingredients), has been substituted for a 'new normal' (replaced ingredients)."

Things will change for everyone, but if we pay attention, we can make things better. We can listen more to each other, look after each other, and be more decent to each other. Yeah...that's what's been missing....common decency. Let's add that to the recipe!